UP sets up steering committee to oversee tiger conservation

NEW DELHI: Three years after the National Tiger Conservation Authority proposed setting up steering committees in states to oversee conservation efforts for the big cat, the Uttar Pradesh government has constituted the panel which is headed by chief minister Mayawati.

"The UP government has already constituted the Steering Committee," an NTCA official said and hoped the step would ensure better management of the endangered species in its Dudhwa Tiger reserve.

The NTCA has already given in-principle approval to the state government to declare Pilibhit forests having good number of striped cats as a tiger reserve.

Apart from the chief minister as the committee's chairman, the forest minister will be vice-chairman and the principal secretaries of the Forests departments, Tribal Welfare and Social Welfare departments will be members as stipulated under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Uttar Pradesh is the sixth state which has constituted the steering committee after Andhra Pradesh, Arunanchal, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

The other tiger-range states are yet to set up the steering panels which have been proposed to ensure better protection of the big cats whose numbers have dwindled to 1400, as per Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII).